One of my resolutions this year was to post more. Well, you can tell by the date stamps on my last few updates that this has not been a goal well met by the end of 2017’s opening quarter. I could say the life of a parent is too hard, it’d be more apropos to say that lounging after a hard day is too easy.
But you know what happened this year? The same damn thing that happens every year (except maybe not next year, but I’m getting ahead of myself). PAX East happened. And I always post about PAX. So what better way to hop back into the WordPress saddle then a PAX East wrapup post. But for the sake of brevity, I’m going to hold off on the general round-up, and focus on a single takeaway: I probably won’t be going to PAX East 2018.
Nitpicks
They didn’t seem to even bother with the swag bags this year. Literally nothing in there but fliers. I don’t feel like I’m entitled to free stuff, but at this point why even bother having them? Just hand out the guides at the entrance and save some plastic.
The no-alcohol policy remains in effect. And when it’s perilously cold outside, the prospect of bar hopping is awfully unappealing. So these were some sober evenings.
Catalyst Game Labs, current stewards of the BattleTech license, apparently skipped the convention. They appear to be as committed to not making money on this excellent and under-appreciated franchise as ever.
Panels this year seemed stuffed with marketing teams instead of community members, and were not as interesting. Traditional staples like OC Remix were absent. Extra Credits was still awesome. But they can’t carry hard enough.
Free Play was Broken
The Tabletop area is always popular, busy, and crowded. This year, it was smaller. But still just as popular. Math tells us this is a bad combination. It meant that it was impossible to get a table in the Tabletop Free Play area until very late.
Moving on to PC gaming, I think this picture sums up the problem with the PC Free Play area.
I count 30 open seats, and a giant wrap-around 45 minute line. Are those reserved for tournaments? No, there’s a separate PC Tourney area. Are they just…broken? Or are they just having trouble getting butts into seats? These are both preventable problems. We didn’t bother stopping by this area this time around.
And the Classic Arcade Free Play area? Gone. Wasn’t there this year. So that’s three free-play areas that were inaccessible. If I can’t play games…why am I at a gaming convention?
Chills and Checks
So it was a little cold. As in, if you stayed outside for more than a few minutes, your joints would seize up where you stand, and your frozen corpse would thaw out some time in July. I know PAX can’t control the weather, and it was bad luck that this convention fell on the coldest weekend of the year. But this is an avoidable problem. If you’re holding a convention in Boston, maybe don’t pick early March. Several problems stemmed from this poor date choice and unfortunate temperature.
James and I arrived 45 minutes after doors opened and still got stuck waiting for over half an hour in said line, outside, while it was snowing. I can’t imagine how anybody in a costume with exposed skin was feeling. That’s messed up.
And by the time we got in, every coat check was full. So now we’re lugging around winter coats all day, too.
Oh, and we missed events we wanted to attend in the morning, because of the aforementioned bag check line. How the hell can you get to a 10:00AM panel when the doors don’t even open until 10:00AM? That’s physically impossible, even without the massive line.
Break Time
Everything I’ve listed up at the top of the post represented annoyances or disappointments. But this bag check policy is the real sticking point. It serves no purpose. It makes getting into the convention a royal pain in the ass. It renders the hours of the convention inaccessible. And in inclement weather, it’s actually dangerous to attendees.
If the security policy doesn’t change, I’m not going next year. I could use a break, anyway. At this point in my life, the opportunity cost of losing a weekend is takes a lot to justify. PAX is no longer clearing that bar.